Decatur/Bousse Sister City Relationship

Members of the Worldwide Missions committee at Shallowford Presbyterian Church, led by Dr. Darl Snyder, have been actively working to reinvigorate the sister city relationship between Decatur, Georgia and the town of Bousse in Burkina Faso. The relationship was particularly strong in the 1990's and included several trips to Bousse by folks from Decatur as well as Decatur hosting representatives from Burkina Faso during the 1996 Olympics.

Unfortunately, the relationship has grown dormant in recent years as city leadership has changed and folks became involved with other interests. Darl recently received a request from one of his very good friends in Burkina, Mouhoussine Nacro, to see if the city of Decatur still had interest in the relationship. Darl has worked tirelessly to bring folks in Decatur together, contacting many people who were directly involved before, and meeting mayor Bill Floyd and city manager Peggy Merriss for lunch.

As luck would have it, Mr. Emile Ouedraogo, who grew up in Bousse, and is now the Director of National Security for Burkina, was traveling in the US, and offered to stop in Atlanta to meet with the Decatur representatives. Darl picked up Emile from the airport on Friday, August 21 and took him to a luncheon in Decatur attended by several interested folks from Decatur, including the former mayor Elizabeth Wilson. Also in attendance were representatives from the current administration of the Decatur city government. Darl said, "It went beautifully. In fact, I don't think it could have been better. Emile seemed deeply grateful. Everyone was very positive and encouraging about renewing the relationship."

On Saturday, several members of the WWM committee had lunch with Emile at Leon's in Decatur. Emile shared his concerns for his people in Bousse and expressed his gratitude in our efforts on their behalf. He presented Jim Lang with a gift from the people of Bousse to the city of Decatur. The gift was a beautiful, leather notebook decorated with the names of the cities Bousse and Decatur. The craftsman of Bousse are well known as skilled in leather crafts. In the picture at right, L-R is Jim Lang, Andrew Swerlick, Emile Ouedraogo, Leta Bogle, and Darl Snyder.

Upon returning to Burkina Faso, Emile wrote to us: "I WOULD LIKE TO EXPRESS MY DEEP AND PROFOUND GRATITUDE FOR ALL WHAT YOU DID FOR ME DURING MY JOURNEY IN DECATUR. I WENT BACK TO BOUSSE DURING THE WEEKEND TO MAKE A FULL AND COMPREHENSIVE REPORT OF MY MISSION. THE ENTIRE POPULATION,THE MAYOR AND THE COMMITY ARE EAGER AND PREPARED FOR YOUR VISIT IN NOVEMBER. FIND ATTACHED PICTURES RELATED TO THE WATER ISSUE, THE HEALTH CENTER AND THE WATER RESERVOIR BUILT BY BECATUR AT THE VERY BEGINING OF THE COOPERATION." The following are a few of these images.